“Even when success eluded him, Haggard’s music remained some of the most consistently interesting and inventive in country music. Not only have his recordings remained fresh, but each subsequent generation of country singers shows a great debt to his work. That fact stands as a testament to his great talent even more than his induction to the Country Music Hall of Fame.” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi
America lost a true country music legend today; Merle Haggard passed away on April 6, 2016, on his 79th birthday.
According to CMT Artists, Merle was one of a kind:
As a performer, singer, and musician, he was one of the best — influencing countless other artists. Not coincidentally, he was the best singer/songwriter in country music since Hank Williams, writing a body of songs that became classics. Throughout his career, Haggard has been a champion of the working man, largely due to his rough and tumble history. He was later one of the regular “Country Music Outlaws”.
As a performer and a songwriter, Merle Haggard was the most important country artist to emerge in the 1960s, and he became one of the leading figures of the Bakersfield country scene in the ’60s. While his music remained hardcore country, he pushed the boundaries of the music quite far. Like his idol, Bob Wills, his music was a melting pot that drew from all forms of traditional American music — country, jazz, blues, and folk — and in the process, developed a distinctive style of his own.
Growing up during the Great Depression Era, living a hard life, and going through many tribulations of his own, Haggard grew some very thick skin. When he was nine years old, he lost his father to a brain tumor. At that impressionable age, he became very rebellious and ended up in a lot of trouble throughout his youth. In his twenties, he served a prison sentence for robbery. During his incarceration at San Quentin, he learned that his wife was pregnant with another man’s child, which sent him over the edge. Ending up in isolation in prison, he experienced some life changes. He worked hard in the prison textile plant to get an early release.
After his prison stint, he landed a manual labor job and began singing in night clubs. Over the course of the years, his talent burgeoned, and he was playing regularly at a Bakersfield club, Lucky Spot. Eventually, his popularity continued to grow, and he signed with Talley Records and landed a television show spot. Bakersfield country, as it was known, was quickly rising in popularity all over the country.
Haggard became a genuine country superstar in 1966, with three Top Ten hits, including “Swinging Doors.” “The Bottle Let Me Down” climbed to number three, and “The Fugitive” (later retitled “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive”) became his first number one. He was voted the Top Male Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music Awards, while he and Bonnie were named the Top Vocal Group for the second year in a row.
From then on, Haggard was one of the most popular names in country music. Merle released three singles in 1969 — “Hungry Eyes,” “Workin’ Man Blues,” and “Okie from Muskogee” — and all three reached number one. In particular, “Okie from Muskogee” sparked a tremendous amount of attention. An attack on the “liberal hippies” who represented American pop culture in the late ’60s, the song struck a chord in audiences across the country, just missing the pop Top 40. Because of the song, Haggard was asked to endorse George Wallace, but he refused. “Okie from Muskogee” cemented the singer’s stardom, and he won a large amount of awards in 1969 and 1970. In both years, he was named the Top Male Vocalist by the ACM and the Strangers were voted the best band, while the new Country Music Association voted him Entertainer of the Year and Top Male Vocalist in 1970.
Haggard released a sequel to “Okie” called “The Fightin’ Side of Me” at the beginning of 1970, and it also shot to number one. That year, he released A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (Or My Salute to Bob Wills), which helped spark a revival of Western swing in the ’70s. Throughout 1971 and 1972, the hits kept coming, including “Soldier’s Last Letter,” “Someday We’ll Look Back,” “Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man),” “Carolyn,” “Grandma Harp,” “It’s Not Love (But It’s Not Bad),” and “I Wonder If They Ever Think of Me.” In 1972, the governor of California, Ronald Reagan, granted Haggard a full pardon. The following year, his hit streak continued, and he scored his biggest hit, “If We Make It Through December,” which peaked at number 28 on the pop charts. As his reign on the top of the country charts continued in 1974, he played on Bob Wills’ last album, For the Last Time. Wills died in 1975, leaving Merle his fiddle.
Haggard stayed with Capitol Records until 1977, and never once did his grip on the American audience slip during his tenure there. During his time on MCA afterward, he continued to have a number of hits, but his work was becoming slightly inconsistent. His first two singles for the record label, “If We’re Not Back in Love by Monday” and “Ramblin’ Fever,” hit number two and he continued to have hits with the label throughout the end of the decade and the first part of the ’80s. “I’m Always on a Mountain When I Fall” and “It’s Been a Great Afternoon” were number two hits in 1978. In 1979, he only had two hits, while in 1980, two selections from the Clint Eastwood movie Bronco Billy reached the Top Three, “The Way I Am” and “Misery and Gin”; Haggard also appeared in the film. The two hits paved the way for his two biggest singles with MCA, the number one duet with Eastwood “Bar Room Buddies” and the number one “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink.” Early in 1981, Haggard had a Top Ten hit with “Leonard,” a tribute to his old friend Tommy Collins.
Later that year, Haggard published his autobiography, Sing Me Back Home. He also left MCA and signed with Epic Records. Once at Epic, he began producing his own records, which gave the music a leaner sound. His first two singles for the label, “My Favorite Memory” and “Big City,” were number one hits. The following year, he released a duet album with George Jones called A Taste of Yesterday’s Wine, which featured the number one single “Yesterday’s Wine” and the Top Ten “C.C. Waterback.” From 1983 until the beginning of 1985, Haggard continued to score number one hits, including the number one duet with Willie Nelson “Pancho and Lefty.”
Merle’s chart fortunes began to change in 1985 as a new breed of singers began to dominate the chart. Nearly every one of the artists, from George Strait to Randy Travis, was greatly influenced by Haggard, but their idol’s new singles now had a tough time reaching the top of the charts. He had two Top Ten hits in 1986, and 1987’s Chill Factor was a success, spawning the Top Ten title track and “Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star,” which would prove to be his last number one hit. In 1990, he signed with Curb Records, but he continued to have trouble reaching the charts; 1994 spawned his last modest hit, “In My Next Life,” which reached the Top 60.
When his contract with Curb ran out, Haggard, hoping for better promotion and greater artistic freedom, signed with Anti, a subsidiary of the Epitaph punk-pop label. His first effort for Anti was released in late 2000; titled If I Could Only Fly, the gentle acoustic album was greeted with strong reviews. Haggard released one more album for Anti, 2001’s Roots, Vol. 1, before departing. After 2003’s Like Never Before, Haggard returned to his old home, EMI, the following year, releasing a collection of American pop standards called Unforgettable at the end of that year. Chicago Wind appeared in the summer of 2005. Haggard then turned to bluegrass, releasing the appropriately titled The Bluegrass Sessions, which featured appearances by Marty Stuart, Aubrey Haynie, and Alison Krauss (among others) in 2007.
In 2008, he got the Bear Family treatment with the release of the multi-disc box sets Hag: The Studio Recordings 1969-1976 and Hag: Concepts, Live & the Strangers: The Capitol Recordings 1968-1976. I Am What I Am, an album of new songs, appeared from Vanguard Records in 2010. A second Vanguard album, Working in Tennessee, co-produced by Haggard with Lou Bradley at Haggard’s own northern California studio, appeared a year later in 2011. Four years later, Haggard teamed up with his old friend Willie Nelson for Django & Jimmie, their first collaboration in 20 years. Preceded by the single “It’s All Going To Pot,” the album debuted at number one on the Billboard country charts upon its June 2015 release.
America’s true “Country Outlaw Hero” will never be forgotten. He stood up and said what every American has been thinking for years. RIP, Merle Haggard.
